Luke 21:5-6 5And while some were talking about the temple, that it was decorated with beautiful stones and votive gifts, he said, 6“These things which you are looking at, the days will come in which there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be torn down.”
The precincts of the Herodian temple were quite impressive. Herod the Great began renovating the Second Temple around 20 BC. The project lasted another sixty years, resulting in one of the wonders of the ancient world. By the time of the events of this chapter around AD 30, the temple was mostly refurbished, but the renovation continued for several more decades and finished in AD 63. By that point, the Jewish temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
The Jews of that day had the same false security as those in the days of Jeremiah with the first temple built by Solomon. Without God’s presence and protection, the temple was just a pile of organized rubble. The Jewish war with the Romans began in AD 66 when the Jews revolted. In AD 70, the Romans under Titus responded by laying siege to Jerusalem, destroying its walls, and, in the process, utterly demolishing the temple.
The disciples were amazed when Jesus told them that not one stone would be left to the Jerusalem temple. Many of those stones were massive and took great effort to get in position. Some of the original stones are still visible in what is known as the “Wailing Wall.” Jesus uses this opportunity to teach his disciples about coming events. His warning in this chapter has many points that have puzzled interpreters. Many of his words applied to the coming Roman destruction, but some descriptions seem to speak of a future time, which many people take as the end of this age. For this reason, this chapter requires careful reading and consideration.
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